8 Days a Week…

WHitW is back, babies! The best band with the worst acronym in town is back blowing minds with their patented “music totapatoeto.” Here’s a thought for them, and it’s a freebie, but maybe change the name of the band to Wild Hog in the Evening. That way the band acronym would be WHitE, just like the members of this band and the entirety of the crowd watching them. What? Not in the mood for racially tinged humor, huh? OK, then they can change the name of their band to Wild Hog in Some Titillating Lace Eveningwear. So we could call them Whistle, which is no doubt what people do when these handsome studs walk down the street.

Daaaaaaamn, the ‘Pooia is hitting it hard this week with singer-songwriters, blues acts, touring bands, booze… What’s not to like? Mikael Pederson is another talented strummer ‘n’ crooner who plans to steal your heart with his magical lyrics and mystical playing. Just kidding. He just does insult comedy while spitting and grabbing his groin. But hey, it’s free!

Whoa, check out the experimental balls on Bombs this week. Kurva Choir is an experimental chamber outfit that busts out weird hypnotic duets on cello and bass. Their 22-minute songs aren’t exactly for me, but if you want to expand your mind, I can’t strongly enough recommend this show. And drugs. Drugs are great for mind expansion, too. Jordan Norton will be playing at this show as well, though his experimental sound leads me to believe his set might just be him standing on a stage silently writing in his journal while a cat gives birth in a small cage hooked up to a piezo pickup. But I’m old fashioned…

The Majestic continues the positively reviewed run of the Pat Kight-directed Kiss Me Like You Mean It. If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for? And if you have, might I suggest a second helping? Sometimes community theater gets better with repeated viewings, like early episodes of Arrested Development. And sometimes you get lucky and you happen to be there when everything comes off just perfectly. And then again, sometimes you get lucky/unlucky enough to be there in a performance where someone accidentally falls off the stage. Pretty much no matter what it’s going to be is worth the price of admission.

The SS, as I like to call them (What? No good?) put on an energetic dance-y alternative show with enough psychedelia and power to make it memorable. For $3, they’re pretty much the best deal in town that doesn’t come on a bun in a 7-Eleven. Not counting myself, of course. They’re here from Portland, which is a town I’ve heard of before, but I’m not sure where. Copper Moons hails from Bend and they’re a bit poppier, but make for a good bill with the Seasons. Also good on a bill: that little smiley face the waiter draws. It always raises my spirits and leads to a bigger tip.

The Flow is not to be judged by their easy personalities or their website which appears to have been constructed in 1994. They got some licks. And they’re going to be exhibiting their licking prowess for free outside in the park. How you can top such a concept is beyond me. This band is smoother than soft serve and twice as refreshing on a summer day. My guess is you stand a pretty decent chance of hearing Margaritaville played at this show, if that’s your bag…

Nick Silver’s tragicomedy about a dying patriarch surrounded by his troubled family is just the type of material the Reader’s Theatre is perfect for. Well, that and live staged readings of my middle school journals. For some reason the Majestic keeps passing on performing those, even though, let’s all face it, there’s nothing you’d all be more interested in than hearing more about me. Am I reading the room right? Hello? Is this thing on? This play sounds a lot like August: Osage County but with hopefully a few more laughs and a few less opportunities to slip out the back and plan a suicide.

Speaking of slipping out back and planning suicide, Blues Jam is still here, challenging you to not show up. For two hours every Sunday, the ‘Pooia morphs into Muddy Water’s foyer and a bunch of dudes you probably wouldn’t mind buying insurance from light it up. If you can play bass with your feet, harmonica with your mouth, and a guitar with your hands simultaneously, maybe don’t come, because these guys work too hard to get shown up by some jerk trying to get laid. At least that’s what they told me when I showed up looking all good and stuff.

Monday, 27

Bryson Skaar, Imagine Coffee, 5460 SW Philomath Blvd. 7:30 p.m. Free

What’s better than a Monday night with no jazz or coffee? Bryson Skaar for free at the ‘Gine. That’s what. Every Monday night you get this tall drink of water putting finger to key while you kick back with a latte all for the low low price of… however much a latte costs. Which is actually more than the cover charge at some of the other shows on this list. So… yeah, I guess “free” is sort of a loaded term. But you won’t get a better value for your nothing than Bryson’s jazz piano explosion.

Well, it was either this or that free Snoop Dogg concert happening at LaSells. But I love kimchi, so you’ll have to read about that huge concert elsewhere. For the entry fee you’re going to get a master class on how to make your own kimchi and sauerkraut from the agro-geniuses at OSU Extension Services. For the uninitiated, kimchi is the fermented cabbage dish that has Koreans living to the age of 230 left and right. Sauerkraut is, of course, the fermented cabbage dish that has had Germans dying at 50 for as long as I can remember. In fairness, it’s probably less the sauerkraut than the 10 pounds of sausage daily, but how interested are you really in the life choices of a people who spell “sour” that way.

It seems absurd and statistically improbable that Ygal hasn’t shown an Errol Flynn movie at CMNYK yet. But he’s probably just doing a thing like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame does, where they just randomly save a huge act that should have been inducted 30 years ago so the returns on induction classes don’t diminish too much. Then they can be like, “Oh hey, by the way this year we’re finally getting around to inducting Yes.” So Ygal’s finally getting around to inducting Yes. It’s Errol Flynn in TheDawn Patrol (1938) this week at Movie Night. If you don’t even recognize that name, I hate you and your stupid Millennial face. See you all there!

Corvallis Community Band < Erroll Flynn. Sorry, but that’s just basic math. Still, this is a fabulous show for free in the park, and a great chance to dust off your picnicking skills, which a new study commissioned by LinkedIn suggests will become one of the most hotly sought after skills of the 21st century along with coding, welding, and impressions. Seriously, though, this is a free concert in the failing light amongst the community. It’s sort of what life is all about, so no pressure or anything, but maybe consider showing up.

Wednesday, 29

Hilltop Big Band, Central Park, 650 NW Monroe Ave. 7:30 p.m. Free

Hilltop is back this week at the free-est, most outside big band show in town. I would like to see a whole evening devoted to Chick Webb, but I’m what you might call a purist, or even an “ass@&le,” so I’m not shocked they haven’t yet heeded my advice. Regardless of what they play, this bumping free weekly concert is basically like live action outdoor Tinder for the senior set. If I was 70, single, and looking to mingle, this is the weekly event I’d be showing up to all sprayed down in pheromones.

The Bombs Away schedule seems to be somewhat unsure which of these stalwart local acts will be playing for free on this particular evening, which is already rife with good choices for free music. But what if they’re both legitimately scheduled and they both show up and do a live play-off on stage to decide who gets to stay? I’m not saying I particularly want to see that, but I can think of worse ways to spend a Wednesday night. I can’t make it, I’ll be over at Central Park getting “the digits,” as the kids of 2003 would have likely put it.

Show of the week alert right here. Adieu Caribou is cutely named, but they’re hiding some seriously likable indie/folk/pop in those guitar cases. If you’re looking for good poppy songs about getting dumped (and who isn’t really?), then these guys should be just right. For free with Corvallis’ own Michaela Hammer? That’s a steal. And not just because I heard rumors that Michaela’s biological father MC will be in attendance. Though it certainly doesn’t hurt.

My in-laws live in Klamath, so it will be with no small amount of personal satisfaction that our hometown Knights will undoubtedly destroy these chumps. And since it’s basically now a tradition to rip on the other team’s name in this section: Gems? Seriously, Klamath Falls? You are, of course, aware the traditional purpose of the mascot as it applies to organized sports is for the mascot to somehow strike fear in the heart of the opponent. Like a Knight does. The Gems does not exactly instill the sense of fear and respect in our guys as you probably hoped it would…